Building brands when selling on marketplaces will be one of the key themes at Linnworks‘ annual LinnAcademy conference this year and, with Tamebay as media partner, Linnworks have just published a blog post exploring the topic which is well worth reading. Some of the speakers from LinnAcademy have shared their thoughts and for anyone launching products onto marketplaces branding should be a key priority.
The first thing you need to be clear on, before you start building brands, is exactly what it is that you’re trying to brand. Is it your company name or is it a product or set of products (although in many cases these can be one and the same thing). For instance Unilever a company and a brand in it’s own right, but they concentrate on branding their products such as Persil, Magnum, Dove, Marmite, Vaseline and PG Tips.
There is little point promoting your company brand if it’s the product brand that consumers will remember and vice versa – be clear what you’re trying to promote before you consider any branding activities.
“The difference between an Online Seller and a brand is that a brand can command customer loyalty and gain investments.
Additionally, if you have an exit strategy, you’re going to need a brand to get that strategy actioned. To put it bluntly, if your goal is to grow your business beyond marketplaces such as Amazon or eBay and gain investment, you need a brand to represent your business.”
– Charlie McBroom from Fitted Commerce writing on the Linnworks Blog
A second problem when selling on marketplaces is that consumers are often oblivious as to who they sell to.
“The one thing that buyers on marketplaces never remember is the name of the seller they purchased from. Ask anyone what they last purchased on a marketplace and they’ll recall it, but ask the name of the seller and you’ll get a blank look as in their mind they ‘purchased on eBay’ or ‘bought it on Amazon’.
Your goal as an online retailer should be to prompt the seller to remember your brand and, in an ideal world, convert them to becoming your customer and not solely a marketplace shopper.”
– Chris Dawson, Tamebay, writing on the Linnworks Blog
Read the full article on the Linnworks blog and over the summer months think about how you can strengthen your branding in the run up to the critical peak holiday and Christmas selling season. At the busiest time of year you won’t have time to consider marketing and branding, but this is just the time of year when you’re likely to ship the most products so having strong branding in place to capitalise on the peak sales is key.
